DUBAI, December 21. /TASS/. At least 24 civilians were killed and several others were wounded in Israeli strikes on the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, Palestine’s WAFA news agency reported.

Israeli artillery forces carried out strikes on the eastern areas of Khan Yunis, while banned phosphorus bombs were dropped on a market square in the city of Jabalia.

According to the news agency, the total number of those killed in Gaza has exceeded 20,000, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women. As many as 52,600 people have suffered wounds.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, taking about 200 people, including women, children and the elderly, hostage. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out retaliatory strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.